[Judge273]

Chris, you coming to the TA Nats?

[The Boss]

Not going to make it Mike, you coming to Norwalk?

[Gator67]

Your engine compartment looks fantastic! I did my 70 TA last year and it never looked this good--the small details you attended to make a big difference. Now, with 4k miles on my car, it looks really tired in comparison.

[Judge273]

Originally Posted by The Boss

Not going to make it Mike, you coming to Norwalk?

Me and Norwood will be at Norwalk Friday and Saturday...Bob, should bring his new trailer and we can push the gold one off to grass.

[The Boss]

Great - you guys should all plan on having steaks with us on Saturday over on the pit side!

[Bentwheelbob]

Long day, so short post. The car is alive. The engine cranked on the second try and it sounds and runs awesome on the 4 post lift. Getting it on the road will take a while longer. Only one problem we know now and that is the intake is leaking on the center exhaust ports. That sucks, but if that is the worst problem then we can deal with that. Here are a few a pictures and a video. My Pal Dave is giving the salute to a few of his PY buddies.

This is a video.

[The Boss]

Dave is always doing the hard work but gets to do the fun stuff too.

Back atchya Dave!

[Alvin]

Bob, congrats on the successful engine fire up. Just now viewed your video of the event...so the screen grab below is Dave's "out the window" answer to the following Q?

- Police to Dave: "How many drinks did you have before I pulled you over for 100mph in the 30 zone?"

- Doctor to Dave....

Or Insert any catchy phrase of your own

Enjoy the Nats.

[dreamn69]

Stunning car Bob, stunning!

[Bentwheelbob]

Originally Posted by dreamn69

Stunning car Bob, stunning!

Thanks. I wish the rest of the car looked as good. The interior and paint are all original as are the decals. The only exceptions are the dash bezel, left rear quarter and wheels. It still looks very presentable, but there are plenty of scratches, rock chips and character marks. Under the hood things were so bad that it wasn't worth retaining survivor status, but the rest of the car looks good enough for me and I like the fact it is original.

The intake exhaust leak is fixed and this car should hit the road tomorrow. A few lose ends to button up and install the hood. Look out.,,

[Alvin]

Originally Posted by Bentwheelbob

Thanks. I wish the rest of the car looked as good. The interior and paint are all original as are the decals. The only exceptions are the dash bezel, left rear quarter and wheels. It still looks very presentable, but there are plenty of scratches, rock chips and character marks. Under the hood things were so bad that it wasn't worth retaining survivor status, but the rest of the car looks good enough for me and I like the fact it is original.

The intake exhaust leak is fixed and this car should hit the road tomorrow. A few lose ends to button up and install the hood. Look out.,,

Pls Praytell the origin & fix on the intake leak

[Bentwheelbob]

Well, the Gold Car is back on the road. There are still a few issues to button up, but we got it off the lift and back on the asphalt after 6.5 months of surgery. The EFE/heat riser doesn't like the choppy vacuum from the Stump Puller cam and rattles like a cheap pair of roller skates and will need fixed, there seems to be a small exhaust leak that needs tracked down, and the car is running a little hot so a 160 degree thermostat is going in to see what benefit it provides. Other than that, things are good. The car has gobs of power and runs nice. We were worried that you couldn't get it to go down the road straight after replacing everything in the front end, but it's not that bad. Definitely will be able to drive it to the alignment shop next week.

Here's a few pictures and a video...


This is a video.

[Alvin]

That 1st to 2nd gear scratch by MPD was cool...TY for posting & enjoy!

[Gator67]

Originally Posted by Bentwheelbob

Well, the Gold Car is back on the road. There are still a few issues to button up, but we got it off the lift and back on the asphalt after 6.5 months of surgery. The EFE/heat riser doesn't like the choppy vacuum from the Stump Puller cam and rattles like a cheap pair of roller skates and will need fixed, there seems to be a small exhaust leak that needs tracked down, and the car is running a little hot so a 160 degree thermostat is going in to see what benefit it provides. Other than that, things are good. The car has gobs of power and runs nice. We were worried that you couldn't get it to go down the road straight after replacing everything in the front end, but it's not that bad. Definitely will be able to drive it to the alignment shop next week.

I have the same cam in my GTO's 462 and it idles smoothly with steady vacuum once warmed up…what type of compression do you have? Mine also ran really cool from day 1…I wonder if you need more timing and/or a richer mix? Oh, I also think I read in an earlier post that you're running valve cover spacers…was that necessary because your valve covers have drippers?

[Bentwheelbob]

The compression should be around 9.3 to 9.4 and the timing got dialed on KRE's dyno at 9 degrees. It idles smoothly once warmed up, but the EFE/heat riser is vacuum operated and just won't get happy. I'm going to replace the 190 degree thermostat in the morning and will see what difference that makes. I'm sure it didn't help that it was 98 degrees here today and high humidity. Were you running stock water pump and radiator?

[muscle_collector]

as I posted in the other topic. unbelievable job. I cant tell you how impressed I am with your work. you should post some side by side before and after pics so everyone can be overwhelmed with your talent.

[Alvin]

Originally Posted by muscle_collector

as I posted in the other topic. unbelievable job. I cant tell you how impressed I am with your work. you should post some side by side before and after pics so everyone can be overwhelmed with your talent.

What Gary said ^^^^^

[Bentwheelbob]

Originally Posted by muscle_collector

as I posted in the other topic. unbelievable job. I cant tell you how impressed I am with your work. you should post some side by side before and after pics so everyone can be overwhelmed with your talent.

Thanks Gary and Alvin. You are both too kind.

It's funny you that you popped up Gary, because for some reason I was thinking of your hoard yesterday morning. I was feeling a little remorseful that this project is winding down and thinking about what I will do next. I am not a paint and body guy so I prefer cars like the Gold Car that have workable paint, but just need mechanical reconditioning and a little elbow grease. This car probably went beyond "a little elbow grease", but it sure has been fun. Now to get the paint buffed out. It's kind of thin in spots (Van Nuys) so that will be a challenge.

Of course I would be remiss if I didn't recognize My Pal Dave. I'm lucky to have a friend like him.

Here are a couple before pictures.

[Gator67]

Originally Posted by Bentwheelbob

The compression should be around 9.3 to 9.4 and the timing got dialed on KRE's dyno at 9 degrees. It idles smoothly once warmed up, but the EFE/heat riser is vacuum operated and just won't get happy. I'm going to replace the 190 degree thermostat in the morning and will see what difference that makes. I'm sure it didn't help that it was 98 degrees here today and high humidity. Were you running stock water pump and radiator?

My compression is a little higher (9.7) and it's happiest with initial timing at 12. I use a stock water pump and fan. I was using a factory 4 core radiator and it ran at just above the thermostat's 180 rating even here in the desert. I ended up ruining the radiator (crushed it by mistake after pulling it out to detail the engine bay), and replaced it with a stock appearing higher capacity aluminum unit. Overkill, but now the temps don't budge from 180 ever. I had a 160 degree thermostat in my wife's 68 FB after it's 400 was rebuilt…I had to replace it during the winter because I couldn't get much heat out of it (40 degrees is cold here).

I still can't get over how nice your engine bay turned out…of course, once you get your engine dialed in and you'll find yourself wanting to drive it all the time…the engine combo is just so nice--it's fun on the street and on the interstate you can just apply a little gas to accelerate in a way that seems effortless. I don't think I'll ever use a 3.75" stroke again when I rebuild a 400 that will go in a car that I plan to drive.

[Bentwheelbob]

OK, so I didn't change the thermostat yet, but did make an adjustment to my fan clutch as per the link below. This was in the PY Street section. I took it out for a 10 mile cruise today and the temps stayed around 205. I parked it in the driveway after the cruise and let it idle for about 10 minutes in +90 degree and continuously checked it with an IR temp gun. The thermostat housing temp stayed between 210 to 215. Hopefully the issue is resolved.

Here's the link.

http://midamericachevelles.com/tech/...tch_adjust.pdf

On another note, the front sway bar got installed today along with the NOS WS6 end link bushings that Burd from UnitedF-body.com hooked me up with. Pretty cool - thanks Burd. I can't wait to get the alignment done and get it back on the road.